Interlude for two Captains
by Peladon
Summary: In which Jack learns the story of the water of life and its legacy, enjoys Christmas in the land of the living and hears news of the Pearl
1. Chapter 1

**Interlude for two captains**

**_Interlude 1. Amicable partings and fond reunions  
_**  
There had been no real argument about where they went to next, and once they had stowed the contents of the long boats and had crossed the reef they set course for Tortuga. Jack had been right when he had claimed that it was the safest place for them to go, perhaps the only place for them to go, and anyway both of the men showed marked signs of being in need of shore leave.

Behind them the island faded into a blue haze but somehow she felt that they were not saying goodbye, that it was only waiting, letting them go for the moment but that one day they might find themselves back here. Elanor had watched it thin and fade with Jack silent at her side, his hair lifting in the wind and his face inscrutable. But when the mists and thr horizon had swallowed it he had turned away without a word and gone to plan his shore leave with Mr had understood his silence, and his desire to stake a claim to normality, and left them to their anticipation, retiring to her cabin to check the calendar with a sigh before falling into dreamless sleep. The swim had been exhausting coming on top of everything else and she couldn't recall a time when she had felt more weary.

She rose when the morning was still new, stiff and soore and only half waking, to take her watch. As she stumbled up the stairs she wondered if her year was still in step with this world and what she planned to do about it should it prove to be the case.

It seemed that Jack had also retired below at some point and Mr Gibbs had taken the watch as Ariadne steered them into deeper waters and then turned the Chaser towards Tortuga. He was alone on deck when she appeared, blinking in the bright morning light, but though he had looked at her with concern he not had much to say and had gone to his hammock as soon as he had satisfied himself she was as well as she could be, all things considered.

As he left so Jack had arrived and whatever else he might have done in the time since she had last seen him he had obviously spent some of it in the shower, maybe trying to washthe lake water's scarlet stain from his skin. He'd not got rid of the legacy of their recent adventure but he was clean and his hair was still damp. He'd put on one of the shirts she had lent him when he first arrived and his skin still appeared burnt and angry above the soft white of the fabric, yet he looked in some way better than he had done when they came aboard and the swelling around his eyes was almost gone. It was clear enough that however ill it might have made them the lake water was not now going to kill them.

It remained to be seen if anything else followed on their drinking of the water of life.

They had drunk tea and eaten fruit on the deck and in a strangely companionable silence, then set about going before the usual early watch checks, working together in a a way that was almost natural now. Jack had learned the routine quickly and if the morning tasks were not what they would have been on his Pearl he had fully accepted them as legitimate seagoing duties and performed them well. Only when they had seen to the Chasers needs, and made sure that Mr Gibbs was soundly asleep and snoring, had they settled down, somewhat reluctantly, to talk about the events of the island.

The conversation had been stilted even so, though more because they were both trying to observe the others privacy than from any other cause. Whether this was a new experience for Jack she couldn't say but for herself she was painfully aware of how exposed they had both been down there. It seemed better not to mention the fact, or anything that would draw attention to it for both their sakes. Gibbs had been right in his supposition that some things would only ever be spoken between themselves, and some of them not even that, but by the end of that watch they had come to some form of agreement about what would and would not be spoken of and to whom.

The flask of fountain water, and the chart, were safety of the strong room and while the matter was still unfinished business in many ways there was nothing more they could do about it, other than wait. Jack seemed certain that there would be no more harmful effects, though he wasn't committing himself on whether he was hoping for any beneficial ones. He had inspected her carefully over breakfast and now he seemed ready to comment on his conclusions,  
"Don't look so close to death now, leastways you don't. That glass of yours was not very flatterin' I must say, odd world where people wish to stare at every imperfection in such clarity, had I known how bad I looked before I might have given up there and then!" Jack had said with an uncertain smile as he peeled a banana.  
"Not you," Elanor replied, "Somehow I don't think you would ever give up. Hope seems to be your middle name."  
Jack shook his head as he took his tea and the smile became wry,  
"Nothin' so useful luv. Marcus, middle name is Marcus, after the emperor if you can believe such a thing. Don't blame you if you can't, I have difficulties with it most of the time so I chose to forget it."  
His smile faded and he rubbed the brand on his wrist without thinking, looking suddenly pensive,  
"You're wrong anyway, I've come close to giving up a few times and one of them was down there."

Then he frowned and buried his nose in his mug as he wondered why he had told her such a thing, indeed why he had told her anything at all.

Elanor smiled across at him, seeing his discomfort though not sure of the cause of it. Leaning forward she lowered her voice a little,  
"Since we are sharing such embarrassing details I will confess that my middle name is Petronella after my other grandmother. Elanor Petronella I ask you!! So don't complain."  
She looked him over carefully,  
"Whatever it was is fading anyway, another day and I suspect we will be nearly normal looking again. Good thing too, couldn't have you wandering about Tortuga looking like that and scaring the ladies more than usual now could we."  
He didn't rise to the bait and just smiled faintly over the rim of the mug, his expression part hidden by the rising steam.

She sighed,  
" We aren't normal yet though, and Ariadne says not to be surprised if you feel a little odd. My temperature is still up and I'd guess yours is too, but I don't think we are likely to drop down dead. It was probably some form of allergic reaction or inflammatory agent that made us ill down there, a local one most likely and once we were out of the lake it began to ease."  
"Didn't feel like it!"  
He set down his drink and flexed his shoulders uneasily with the words, and she wondered if he still ached as much as she did.  
"No I know, but there isn't any other explanation," was all she said.  
He shot her a sharp look,  
"Your ghost no help on it then?" he asked mildly.  
"Not so far, but I haven't really questioned her about it. Sleep seemed more important at the time. But if the effects go on fading then I think we have to assume we're fine."

She had spoken nothing less than the truth at that moment, it was true thatshe had no intention of leaving it there, but that would wait until she was alone.

"So what was that place do you think?" Jack mused his eyes fixed on the sea beyond the rail.  
Elanor shrugged,  
"Who can say at this distance, it was very old."  
He nodded vaguely,  
"It were at that. Seen old places before though and never anything like that."  
Looking back to her he gestured with his cup in her direction,  
"And that ....... shelf it spat us out onto, what was that?"  
Elanor paused for a moment and he narrowed his eyes and glared,  
"You know! Out with it then."  
She shook her head,  
" I don't know, but I think I could take a guess."  
"So.." he demanded.  
"You wouldnt believe me, and anyway I might be wrong."  
"Why wouldn#t I believe you? After seein' that place I could believe anything of it."  
"Perhaps, but then again perhaps not."  
"Stop talking in riddles woman! What was it?"  
"I'm not sure, and I don't think I evercan be so just leave it will you, my head hurts enough as it is with out you snapping questions at me."

He opened his mouth to demand an answer then he noticed the tiredness around her eyes and he shrugged and let it go.  
"Well, it's not my intention to be visiting there again, so it is of no matter." He squinted at her over his cup taking in ever detail of her, "let us hope you are right about the rest of it and that the place hasn't sent us on our way with another little suprise in store."

***

Though no new suprise made itself known their recover was not immediate, for while the obvious effects of the lake water continued to fade as the days passed the aches persisted, and for all their apparent recovery neither of them felt quite themselves. Neither mentioned it though, both putting that and the lethargy that seemed to have them by the throat down to the strange dreams that still came and disturbed their sleep. Neither of them were admitting to those either.

They reached Tortuga without incident and in good time, the sea seeming to clear their way and with the wind always at their back, filling the canvas and showing the Chaser's speed. Jack soon realised that this ship was faster even than the Pearl, perhaps much faster, and an idea that had been slowly growing in his mind sent out another shoot.

They anchored in the same bay as their last visit, the waters calm in the gathering dusk. Up on the headland they could see the shadows of the farmsteads clustered around the road. On land lay the things they needed, and more rum, yet neither Jack nor Gibbs felt any rush to leave and so they spent the evening in playing cards and drinking the last of the current rum stock. Both men knew that Polly's still would soon replenish that. Elanor didn't ask where they went from here, and neither man seemed willing to speculate, though some of the sideways looks she was getting from Jack suggested that he was planning another mad scheme and hoping to persuade her to aid him in it. Taking back his ship seemed to be the most likely idea, unless there was something else he had found on the map that he had a hankering for and that he thought he could persuade her to chase. For the moment she pushed speculation aside, content to wait and see.

They had put together another shopping list, but this time it would be Jack who went to the town and did the bartering while Gibbs was to wait at Polly's farm. Elanor had the feeling that Jack didn't want her and the ship out of the sight of one of them. Not that such a concern would stop him going, she had little doubt that he intended to seek some serious R&R in the port, even if he didn't know what week it was. In fact he had not bothered to hide that intention, though he had not taunted her with it as once he might have done, and he had been quiet and looked thoughtful when she had explained certain facts to him.

The gold she had recovered from the seabed was barely touched and would provide all they needed for some time to come so she had no concerns about Jack taking some extra for his own use. She had gone as far as suggested that it might be worth him seeking out his 'ladies', as Gibbs called them, and discovering what, if anything, they knew of the people searching for him. Not that she had really expected him to do anything else. When his fingers had strayed over some pretty baubles she had suggested that he might find their memory improved by a present or two. That he had chosen to take a couple of ebony combs as well as two matched pearl necklaces had surprised her, but she had said nothing. Elanor suspected that Jack had generous impulses, and more often then some might think, but that he was both annoyed and embarrassed by them. What little he had told her of his experiences in the locker strongly suggested that he had a perverse desire to be a worse man than he was, at least she if she was interpretating the locker world correctly. That might seem odd to one of her world but when she thought about the brand on his arm, and what it meant, she had to admit that such a desire might not be so illogical here.

And she had thought that her own world had gone mad and had wished for a saner and simpler time! Just went to show that her ancestors had not been so foolish, be careful what you wish for indeed.

***

That first day after Jack and Gibbs had departed to their respective celebrations of survival had been a blessed relief, her ship was her own again and she could draw breath and think a little about the events of past weeks without the distractions of the two men interrupting her or, in the case of Jack, watching her.

Ever since they had returned from the island Jack had seemed to be more than usually interested in her, if interested was the right word, for he hadn't actually said anything much at all, and certainly nothing unusual, at least not for Jack. But there had been something vaguely unsettling in the way his dark eyes had followed her when he thought she couldn't see him looking, for his expression was unfathomable. Half the time she thought he was plotting something but the rest of the time she thought that he wanted to ask her something and couldn't find the words. Sometimes she thought he was wondering about just what is was her 'ghost' had told her.

While the two men were aboard she had been careful not to ask much at all, what she didn't know she wouldn't feel obliged to pass on, but once they were gone she had wasted no time in consulting Ariadne. She expected that Jack knew this and was wondering how he could gain the same information for himself.

Now with them gone she could get down to discovering how much of the meanings and consequences of the events of the island she and Ariadne could piece together.

"The test shows no indication of danger, the water is safe to drink in the conventional sense of the word. Not even any microbes that might cause gastric problems. In fact little microscopic life at all, the water you brought back with you was almost distilled." Ariadne reassurred her.  
"That's one blessing I suppose. I'll run another blood test on myself but I doubt that it will tell me much."  
"A sensible precaution but I think you are correct in your assumption that if it were fatal it would have killed you already."  
Privately Elanor wasn't so certain and wished that Ariadne had been provided with the necessary tools to analyse the stuff fully, but there had been no apparent need for such technical refinements when she set sail. So she had stifled her feeling that matters were not yet resolved and moved on to Jack and his watchful behaviour. Ariadne had already noted his scrutiny but seemed disinclined to be concerned about it.  
'There appears to be nothing threatening in his regard, though it is true that he seems very concerned to know what you are doing, even more so than previously. On more than one occasion since your return he has approached your cabin then turned away, but his interest seems to be more considering than predatory. He knows I will not allow him to harm you, but in fairness I have observed no desire to do so on his part. In fact I detect a sense of uncertainty in him."

Elanor nodded slowly as that comment brought something clear in her mind,  
"Yes so do I, and some confusion too, as if I'm a chart he can't quite read in the way he expected to."  
"That seems to be a reasonable analogy. Did something happen on the island to cause this? Is the change something that, while trivial at the moment, might be a threat you or the ship's safety in the future?"  
Ariadne never lost sight of her priorities however fascinating a subject might be.  
Elanor thought about that then shook her head,  
"No I don't think so. It's just that... well I suppose he saw more of me than I, or maybe even he, would have wished. I'm sure that I saw more of him than he is comfortable with. He's not a man who normally shows much of his true self, even when he seems to be drunk. I think that we have crossed some sort of boundary with each other, though I don't quite know how or when. I can't really tell you more than that, and I know that it doesn't make much sense."  
She got to her feet and stretched, wondering why she felt so uneasy and unsettled, as if something was about to happen,  
"But there was nothing there that made any sense."

"Certainly it appears that there was some distortion of reality, and of time." Ariadne returned calmly, "that is possibly why you perceived us as losing contact,"  
"Perceived?"  
"I was not aware of any loss of contact, yet the calls you mentioned were not received, and the time you spent underground by the clocks here agree with Mr Gibbs assessment, though you say that for you it seemed much longer?"  
"Yes, much longer, days in fact. Your conclusion?"  
"That much of what you saw and felt took place inside your minds, or some constructed reality that you and Captain Sparrow shared."  
Elanor nodded,  
"Oh I'd agree that place was a construct, but who built it and why? What purpose was it supposed to serve? What was that lake and what is the water we brought back? The compass seemed certain that it was the fountain of youth but it was most...... odd. Until that crucible thing started to fill there was no sign of either a waterfall or a fountain. Was it us being there that set it off or would it have happened anyway?"  
Ariadne was silent for a moment,  
"We do not have sufficient data to hypothesise either about the water," she said eventually, "or about the compass and its readings. The scanners have collected full geographic data of the area around the island, perhaps when that is fully analysed we will have a clearer picture."

Elanor had agreed and they had left it there, but she remained uneasy and she could not shake off the feeling that Adriane was too.

Now three days on the relief of being alone was wearing thin and she found herself wondering what the pair of them were up to. Though if she were honest she had pretty good idea. She sighed as she looked down the coast line to the direction of the port, she would trust Polly to keep Mr Gibbs in one place and safe, but there was no denying that Jack was taking a significant risk, and she rather expected that he was taking more of it than he needed to.

But she had no right to complain, he was just a man after all and one without family or ties. A man who had long ago learned that friend could become foe without warning and that his life could be snatched away at a moment. A man who had been at sea a long time too. She could not blame him if he sought a little easy pleasure and forgetting when he had the chance. She only wished that she could manage the same.

But she could not; this world was more dangerous for her than it was even for Jack, and while she might be resistant to alcohol, disease and even the STDs of this time and place, an unguarded word could bring a far worse fate down upon her head. Better that she stayed away from all but the few who knew something of her already, those who had their own reasons for protecting what little they knew of her secret. Elanor had long ago lost her belief in the incorruptibility of any man or woman, particularly the poor and the desperate.

She had told herself her restless feeling was nothing more than the realisation that today was Christmas Eve. At least it was for her. Christmas and she was more alone than she had ever thought to be, even the satellites she had once relied upon for contact should she need it were gone. Was it Christmas in Tortuga she wondered? How did they celebrate? Whatever it was no doubt Jack would be in the thick of it, enjoying himself to the hilt. She could only hope that he remembered what he had gone for, and the fact that he was being sought desperately and for more than the usual reasons. Yet her unease persisted and the fear that she might face the new year yet more alone still would not go away.

With a sigh she descended down to the lower stores levels to where the freezers kept safe the few luxuries she had brought with her for this day. Having made her selection she returned to the deck,  
"Ariadne, " she called, "some music please and don't worry about the noise, I don't think anyone is going to hear us."

***

If anyone had asked Jack why he was returning to the ship two days early he would have said it was because the news he had gathered of the searching for him suggested that he might be safer elsewhere else. Yet some small voice inside him knew that wasn't the whole and unvarnished truth. What that truth might be was something he preferred not to dwell on.

Having seen, and spent time with, both Giselle and Scarlett, and having heard their tales of the searchers, and with Christmas eve almost upon him, he felt a sudden urge to be somewhere else. He still had gold in his pockets but the supplies would be ready for collection the other side of the feast day and there was no longer any reason for him to be here. Other than his own pleasure that was, and for some reason that wasn't as... pleasurable as it should have been. That same little voice kept telling him there was rum to be had on the ship and far less danger. But that was not the truth either, and he couldn't deny that a strange restlessness had taken hold of him and that neither rum nor the inviting glances of the ladies of the town could ease it. With a shake of his head at his own intransigence he had cursed the water of life for complicating matters, for he had no doubt that he was still affected by that bloody lake.

As a last resort he had taken himself across to the more respectable area of the town and to a tailors where he acquired a new shirt and a spare pair of breeches, as Elanor had suggested. With those packages tucked into his coat he headed back towards the quay, when on a sudden impulse he picked up a string of glass beads as he passed through the market. The beads were old but strangely pretty and he had shaken his head at his own foolishness as he dropped them into his pocket, no doubt the lady captain had no knowledge of Christmas and it was most unlikely that he would get any benefit from taking her a gift. But somehow the sight of the ship as they had rowed away, and the knowledge that she was being left to her own thoughts and memories without hope of relief, had made him feel uncomfortable. While glass beads would not change that, be they ever so pretty, they might, or rather his giving of them, might provide a distraction for her.

As the day passed towards evening Jack said his farewell to the ladies and crossed to the poorer quarter of the town to Sampson's inn, he sat for a hour or so and listened to the landlord's story his brow furrowing whne he heard of thr two men and theoir questions. The descriptions were not certain but one certainly sounded like the young lad who had survived Beckett's sinking. It was the other that was more worrying.

It made his descion for him. As night darkened the alleyways he said farewell with casual grace to the lasses that had clustered around him before taking his leave of the landlord, who agreed wholeheartedly with his caution and presented him with two bottles of his special Christmas rum. As the first blush of dawn spread across the sky on the morning of Christmas Eve Jack slipped out of the town, taking a secret ride in the back of the first cart he found heading up the headland road. He slept most of the journey away, the bundle of his new clothes tucked under his head and the remaining gold and the beads buried deep in the deepest inner pocket of his coat. The Christmas rum he had placed with great care beneath the straw.

He woke at the time he had decided for himself and lay watching the sky as the clouds piled in, then he slipped out of the cart unseen just as the little cluster of homesteads appeared.

At first he had started out towards Polly's farmstead, or more particularly her still room, but as he breasted the rise he saw the Chaser in the bay, the darkening clouds throwing her whiteness into relief, and found himself turning away and down the path towards the cove where the long boats were tethered. For a moment he stood uncertain, chewing at his lip while wondering what to do, it didn't seem to him that he had decided but he still found himself settling the rum where it wouldn't roll then untying the boat and starting the pull towards the ship.

***

The strange sounds started halfway across the bay, like tribal drums, a wailing wind and the heavenly host all rolled into one. They sent his heart rate rocketing as he rowed harder and wondered, with some trepidation, what it was that had got aboard the ship. He had wondered if the island of the water of life had had another suprise up its sleeve, he thought grimly as he pulled on the oars, looked like it had and that it were not a welcome one.

The sounds got louder and stranger the closer he got to the Dawn Chaser, but they g0t more familiar too, and by the time he was tying up the longboat he thought it might be some form of strange music. That however didn't ease the anxiety, he had seen for himself and in greater detail than would be wished, that music could be the prelude to some very nasty forms of mayhem. Had Elanor's ghost turned on her or had some other form of spirit from that damned lake hijacked her? He hurried up the ladder, making as little noise as he could manage, drawing his pistol as he reached the rail and sticking his head over with considerable caution.

Whatever he had been expecting it was not what he saw. On the decks Captain Elanor was alone and apparently in one piece, though her wits seemed to have gone wandering for she was moving in time to the sounds, at least some parts of her were, and in a manner that could not be described as at all ladylike.

Jack eased himself a little higher and watched with raised brows as she gyrated and capered about the deck, her body flexing and hips swinging in a manner that was both familiar and novel and more than a little... . exhilarating. Carefully and soundlessly he settled himself more comfortably, telling himself a little observation was needed if he was to know if she had truly gone mad, but aware of the smile that was lifting his lips and the slight tightening in his chest. She was very graceful, and even more flexible, and quite unaware that he was here and..... he rather wished she would stop what she was doing given that his activities in Tortuga had not been as unbridled as once they might have been.

The music was getting louder, the beat heavy and insistent, a throb that seemed to reach inside him and twist his gut and set his heart pounding. He must have made a sound for suddenly she span around to face him and stopped, her arms still raised above her head and her hip jutted to one side. For a moment they were both frozen and then she blinked at him and let her arms fall standing straight and unconcerned, he noticed that she had a spoon in her hand.  
"Jack? What's wrong? Why are you back so early?" her voice was calm and friendly enough.  
"It's Christmas," he said then wondered why he had said it.  
Slowly he hoisted himself to the deck, and flapped a hand at the air, still vibrating with the heavy and seductive sound.  
"What's that?" he demanded.  
Elanor smiled,  
"Where I come from it's considered music."  
He stared at her for a moment while he absorbed the idea,  
"Is it now. And what about the...." He flapped his hands in her direction swaying in time to the beat as he did so.  
Her smile widened,  
"We call that dancing."  
She saw his startled look and laughed, coming forward with her hands extended,  
"Want me to teach you?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Interlude for two captains**

**Interlude 2 Yo Ho the Drunken Sailor**

The clouds had massed and the sun had long since given up the battle and retreated over the horizon and the lamps glowed bright upon the masts and rails when the music fell silent. She had played more music of her world, some she thought of old and some as new, much of it with the same fast and heavy beat but some much slower and sensuous. Some of it was sad, and to Jack ears much of it seemed almost indecently erotic. He had danced with her, then collapsed on the deck and watched her when the close proximity of her dancing showed signs of becoming more than merely embarrassing. She, however, didn't seem to embarrass easily, and as he watched her movements with appreciation he wondered what her ancestor the Commodore would have made of the idea that such a thing could be respectable. Elanor had laughed when, as she guided his hands around her waist, wrapped her arms about his neck and pulled his hip close against her own, he had pointed out that if he did that with a lady like her in his world then they would probably add molestation to his charge sheet.

Truth was that as it grew darker he'd been glad to stop and retire to his rum, for he was finding the whole business more than a little disturbing. She might have known that, for all she had been apparently oblivious to some things, for she made no complaint merely danced alone for a while longer then turned the sound level down and collapsed beside him. Jack had the feeling that she was simply glad not to be alone on this night.

Wnile they sat she had told him stories of Christmas in her world, of decorated trees and presents and things called cards, and instant messages around the world. But she had spoken of wars too, of hatred and want and fear, and the never ending misery that man could inflict on man in the name of god. He couldn't be sure but there were times when the lamps on her face were reflected back in something that looked close to dampness. Then he remembered the shore of the lake and was certain that she was glad that he had returned to break her solitude.

Shaking off her suddenly sombre mood she had demanded the details of Christmas's he had known. Most he'd invented on the spot for there was little of Christmas that he remembered. But other memories had intruded and he found himself talking of them while she watched with compassionate eyes.  
"Memory," she murmured at one point, " a blessing and a curse. "  
"Try to avoid it meself," he had said raising the rum bottle in her direction. "Most of mine you can have for no charge."  
Both of them knew what they were referring to.  
"Poor Jack, always the one to blame eh?"  
"Not argue with that luv." He'd smiled, though he wasn't sure how much of a success it was.  
Then she had reached forward and patted his leg,  
"So let us stay in the present. Today the only day."  
She rose suddenly and disappeared below returning with a tray and another spoon.

She had given him something she called ice cream, and what she named chocolate before she left to go below decks again, this time returning with two heavy green bottles of some fizzy wine, she handed one to him and they had toasted Christmas past and present as the moon rose silver above the purple sea. When the wine was finished she had brought out the brandy and allowed herself to be cajoled into trying the bottle of christmas rum. They had talked of other things then, of people and places and the stupid things that could happen. Finally they laid back on the decks staring up at the sky and inventing stories about the stars, Jack had called her liar when she told him that a man had stood on the moon and she had disappeared below decks only to come back with a picture of a man in a strange suit stepping onto a dusty plane, swearing to him that it was a photograph of man doing just that, whatever a photograph might be. When the rum was gone they had gone to sit beside the helm watching the moon riding the drifting clouds in icy splendour and trying to decide exactly where the man had stepped down, and laughing about the stories Mr Gibbs could make of it.

As the clouds increased and the stars and shoreline disappeared into shadow Elanor rose unsteadily from her perch and staggered below decks for a while, reappearing with two new bottles of that wine, two new and full bottles.  
"Last of these but might as well drink them. No saying if there will be another time." She said as she returned.

Jack watched her meandering progress back towards where he was sitting with a frown, for something was obviously wrong. He thought about it for a moment, watching her sway with the rise and fall of the decks, her face set in lines of fierce concentration. He recognised that look but somehow it didn't seem right, not on her face. But the conclusion was inescapable and Jack looked up at her in owlish astonishment as she handed him the second bottle.  
"Y're drunk." He slurred, "I'm drunk but that's not unexpected, but y're drunk too." He leaned back, frowning as he struggled to focus on her face, "never seen that before." He pointed a wavering finger at her, "Why y're drunk?"  
Elanor shook her head vigorously, overbalancing onto a hatch cover as she did so,  
"Not drunk, can't be drunk." She said and took a swig from her bottle.  
"Yr'e drunk I say." Jack leaned towards her and poked her shoulder with an emphasising finger, "drunk as a lord." He narrowed his eyes and flittered a hand towards her, "and I've seen enough drunken lords to know one when I see one."  
She took another swallow and shrugged her shoulders elaborately,  
"Not drunk, can't be drunk," she drew a deep breath, "Engineered.. Got enzymes, can't be drunk." She shook her head sadly, "Never."  
"Never?" Jack peered closely at her.  
"Never," she agreed.  
He reached out a wavering hand and patted her thigh heavily,  
"That's sad, ver' sad. How d'ye manage? Worl's a harsh place, too harsh to be always sober. Wha's a man," he smiled his most golden smile and turned the bottle in careful hands, "or woman come to that, to do, if they can't get drunk when it hurts."  
"Soldier on." she said morosely, "Engineered for that too."  
Jack shook his head sending the beads in his hair rattling,  
"Tis really sad, is that." He patted her shoulder in clumsy commiseration before taking a drink.  
Elanor nodded in apparent agreement then sighed and raised her bottle to him, he crashed his against hers and they both drank some more.

They were silent for a moment both considering the evil of the world. Then she leaned unsteadily across to him,  
"Y're not drunk as often as you pretend," she tilted her head sideways and, at the third attempt, managed to wink at him, before prodding his arm with an stiff finger, "I know. Not nearly 's often, " she nodded, "Know it."  
Jack leaned away from her and frowned,  
"Who says that?" he demanded, "take me to him and I'll.. I'll."  
"You'll what?" she slurred,  
He waved an aimless hand,  
"Get him to buy me a drink." he pointed at her, "at pistol point.,. Am a pirate yer know."  
Elanor nodded, her face serious,  
"Did know."  
"Did you? Who told you?" Jack attempted to get to his feet without success, "Show me the instigator of such slander and I'll run him through."  
She pointed a wavering finger at him,  
"You told me."  
Jack thought about that for a moment and then sighed and collapsed back again.  
"Oh. Bugger."

For a moment they stared at each other in wide eyed silence then Jack leaned forward,  
"Says you can't be drunk but I says you are prev... previo...prevar...Y're drunk now."  
"Am not." She insisted with a frown.  
"Are so!" he carefully wagged a finger at her, "do not be lyin' to Ol' Jack about that, tis not comradely."  
She squinted sideways at him,  
"Are you old? Wouldn't be where I come from, but here?" she shrugged and overbalanced against his shoulder.  
He straightened her with solemn courtesy,  
"It is all a matter of perspective I expect." He nodded sagely then stared at the bottle noting the fullness of it with approval, "escape the noose often enough and twenty one is old."  
She nodded agreement emphatically and stroked his arm in commiseration,  
"Mus' get very tiring, having to escape all the time, not surprised you take to the rum."  
"Who says I do?" He demanded with eyes narrowed to slits again,  
"You do."  
"Do I?"  
"Yes. All the time."  
He thought about that for a moment, then smiled at her softly,  
"Oh. Might not be telling the whole truth about that though, I admit, not always."  
She smiled back,  
"I know."

They were silent for a while, the sound of the music's lament washing across the decks. Then Jack leaned closer and looked at her from under his lashes,  
"Now tell me, in confidence I swear, have you not left a husband behind you? Eh? How could a fine woman such as yourself, with all your....." his hand drew her outline in the air, "advantages..... not have a man to see to her needs."  
"No husband, no children. Told you before I was in the navy. Resigned now o'course, but was. As for needs? Weeell. No different to you Jack, find what I can where I can." She looked at him sideways and a rather devilish smile flitted across her face,  
"Though I'm more careful and I'd bet you're not without issue."  
She seemed to find the idea funny and giggled as she dropped her head over the bottle in her hands. Jack frowned,  
"Have not!"  
She raised her head again and the grin widened at his expression,  
"Bet you have, not as bad a man as you'd have me believe, you and your ladies. Next thing you know it'll be rocking cradles."  
That brought the expected outrage,  
"Will not! I'll have you know I'm very careful 'bout such things."  
Elanor had found a certain item in his coat that suggested that he might mean that but she was not in any mood to give ground.  
"When your' drunk?" she scorned taking another swallow of wine, "Ha! Bet there are lots of little Jack brats running about the Caribbean looking for their daddy."  
"Are not!" he snapped, for a moment seeming genuinely annoyed by the idea.  
Elanor smiled to herself, hiding her amusement as she saw the speculative look slide into his eyes.

Jack looked at her thoughtfully for a long moment before smiling slyly and sidling closer, sliding his arm around her waist. His fingers began a slow meander across her ribs and towards her belt buckle, as he watched her closely through the fall of his hair,  
"Though world moves on I suppose, time and tide if you take my meanin?" he edged his shoulder closer still, his fingers stroking the end of her belt, " and if you were a little more friendly..., well maybe we could make a start on addressing our mutual absence of...issue."  
He tilted his head, looking at her expectantly, for all the world like a child asking for more chocolate. Elanor understood the look and slapped his fingers away, shaking her head and ignoring the pout that followed,  
"In your dreams!" she snorted, "even if I were so inclined you can't stand up in one piece. Let alone get bits of you...." she waved a hand in the general direction of his groin. "Co-ordinated."

He gave an outraged squark at that and let go of her, hauling himself to his feet with some difficulty,  
"Can I not?" he began pulling at his shirt, trying unsuccessfully to tug it free from his breeches, "I'll show you, missy.. Captain...I'll show you...I can take me drink and still see to a ladies satisfaction, as plenty o' ladies in Tortuga and elsewhere would attest to, Singapore too," he glared at her while still trying to disentangle his shirt, " my efficacy is no way impaired."  
Elanor gave another snort and waved the bottle in her hand in his direction,  
"Well y're payin' 'em so what are they likely to say? Eh?"  
That brought more shirt pulling and a thunderous frown,  
"Tha's a slander, and not a bit true. Come over here madam and I'll prove it to you, I'll show you who's bloody incapacitated!"  
On which word he over balanced and fell beside her in a heap.  
"Oh," he reached for the bottle, "but I'll just have a drink first shall I?"

He took another deep swallow then toppled sideways to lie with his cheek against her midriff, where he settled with a loud, satisfied and rather provocative sigh.  
"Jack, get up!" Elanor protested.  
"Why?" he said snuggling his face deeper into her, " I is comfortable enough here." He patted her thigh and settled himself as if to sleep.  
Elanor pulled at his braids impatiently,  
"Well I isn't and your beard is leaking wine onto my shirt. It's my favourite too!"  
"Ah," his mouth was muffled by the shirt he was staining; then slowly and reluctantly, and with an unnecessarily convulsive wriggle, he turned over before settling himself comfortably again, nestling his head against her rib cage, "I's a nice shirt too," he slurred softly, "hangs very....." he caught her narrowing eye and smiled disarmingly, "prettily."

He closed his eyes and reached up winding his finger through her hair, feeling the silk snag against his rings. Pulling her down towards him, he sighed happily again,  
"How about a little rest then what say you to another dance then, hmmm?"

***

In the end they didn't dance, probably just as well they would both tell themselves later, no saying where that might have ended up. Though they were both sort of sure they did know and couldn't decide whether sense or stupidity had won the day. But it was comfortable enough as they rested in a drunken haze. Jack's head was heavy on her thigh and her fingers had somehow found their own way into the thick folds of his hair, his eyes were all but closed while his hand was wandering aimlessly up and down her lower leg. The bottles were nearly empty and the two drinkers were sleepy and disinclined to move. They had laid like that for unmeasured time, the strange restlessness they both still knew settled for a while and memory quiet. They were alive and it was Christmas and that was all that mattered.

It was a church bell tolling somewhere on the shore that stirred them, and Elanor rather wished that it hadn't given that the return to her full senses was not comfortable. Reluctantly she sat straighter,  
"Feel sick!" She said with a mix of outrage and horror in her voice.  
Jack snuggled deeper,  
"Ha! Woman can't take her liquor, and her a captain too." He smiled up at her, his eyes as wide and black as the night sky in the lamplight.  
"Can too." Elanor shrugged him carefully off her lap and clambered uncertainly to her feet, where she turned and pointed at him, "Can drink you under the table any day."  
Jack propped himself up on his elbows with a frown,  
"Could not!  
"Could so, I told you, got enzymes, ver' special enzymes." She squared her shoulders, over balancing slightly as she did so, and catching hold of the mast to stop her fall, "Alcohol does not touch me," she said with ponderous dignity.  
Jack's frown dissolved and he giggled, reaching forward to pat her ankle,  
"Seem pretty touched at the moment luv!"  
Elanor glared at him then sagged, her eyes closing  
"S'mthin' funny about this drink. Bloody rum! I think I'm goin' be sick." She straightened and turned towards the rail flapping her hand at Jack. "Can't be sick on't decks, never hear the last of it."  
She staggered forward slightly and stopped as if unable to make her legs work.

Jack got to his feet at the third attempt and slung an arm around her waist,  
"Allow me to be of some assistance Captain Cavendish, been sick over more rails than you've....." his free hand circled aimlessly for a moment,".. well anything you've done a lot of."  
Elanor clung to him her eyes dazed and half closed and Jack was more than tempted to claim that beautiful mouth as a Christmas present; but the look on her face told him that she wasn't jesting and against all odds she was indeed about to be sick. With solemn care he helped her to the rail holding her shoulders while she heaved and shook.

Finally she stepped back and stared up at the sky in fear, Jack caught the look and the fumes of rum retreated as they always did when needed,  
"What is it luv? Your'e just a little on the go, few sailors who haven't been in their time, no need to look so distraught. I'll not blame you for it. Nor say anything of it if that is what concerns you."

She turned to look at him, wide eyed and horrified, and saw that he meant what he was saying, but then he didn't understand did he?

Jack felt his heart sink as he caught the look and fear tightened on him as she allowed him to gather her against his shoulder, not protesting at his hands tightened around her.  
"We are alive Elanor, we made it back luv." He said into her hair, "What can there be for you to look so?"  
"Something is wrong Jack, very wrong. I mean it. I am immune to the intoxicating effects of alcohol, I can't get drunk, just like I can't get pregnant unless I want to, and I won't catch the pox or the clap or die of malaria or cholera. I'm engineered so that I can't. So why do I feel like this? " her fingers tightened on his shoulder, "What has happened to me?"  
He marked her words for later investigation and settled himself to calming her,  
"Maybe it's the after effects of the lake water eh! Perhaps you are not quite well yet. It will get better, you will go back to being yourself I'm sure of it."  
She pushed closer against him,  
"Will I? How can you be so sure when we know so little about it? What has that water done to me Jack? What did the map mean?"  
She eased herself from the circle of his arms,  
"What has it done to you Jack? What was that you were wishing for down there, what was it that you really wanted most? Was it immortality? Was that all you wanted?"

***

Gibbs returned to the ship early to invite Captain Elanor to take breakfast with Polly and her family, feeling somehow uneasy at leaving her alone while he and Jack took off to enjoy themselves. She had been quiet since they returned from that godforsaken island, and there had been shadows in her eyes, just as there had been in Jack's. As he pulled towards the white ship sitting all aglow against the lightening sky Gibbs wondered, and not for the first time, what had happened to them in the cavern beneath the sea. Something had he was sure of it, for neither of them had come back what you might call easy, and though they had brought the water back too Jack had shown little sign of triumph, being almost subdued. Yet he didn't think the problem lay between them for they had been careful, almost protective, of each other since they had returned.

The sight of Jack's boat moored cosily against the Chasers side sent his eyebrows into a hard line and his heart pounding, when Jack had set off he had been determined to reacquaint himself with the ladies and after the weeks of enforced... denial.... had seemed more than ready to enjoy their company. ' It would have taken something powerfully bad' Gibbs reflected with a sinking stomach, 'to cause him to return here before he had drunk and wenched his fill.' With Jack that was likely to take more hours than a night. But the boat was here, though he had been gone barely long enough to reach the port and find the lasses, which suggested that he had not gone to Tortuga at all, and that was certainly bad news. He must be ill or hurt mortal bad to abandon his trip and return here so soon.

Gibbs tied his boat along side Jack's and hurried up the sea ladder and onto the decks. The ship was silent, the ghost apparently taking no notice of his return, and the helm was unmanned. For a moment he debated calling out, then changed his mind and headed below to find his captains, neither of whom proved easily found. Jack's cabin was empty, and when he could bring himself to knock, then put an ear to, Captain Elanor's door he found it silent. With a curse he headed to the galley, it was likewise deserted but for a green glass flagon the labels all gold and white and the remains of some food he didn't recognise. He frowned, and then return to the decks to search.

It didn't take him long to find them, they were both sprawled in the shadow of the helm, and the sight brought an unholy grin to Gibbs face, and not entirely in relief. They were cuddled together and wrapped around each other like a pair of frightened babes. Captain Elanor's head was suspiciously close to being on Jack's shoulder while his cheek was definitely laid against the top of her head. One of Jack's hands was wrapped in her hair, the silvery sheen of it shaming his rings, while her hand was curled loosely around his hip. Beside them two more of those dark green flagons were empty and discarded.

With another smirk and a shake of his head he took himself back to his boat, breakfast would wait and tonight there would food and feasting enough to make up for a lost meal. Neither of them would thank him for waking them now so he'd leave them to sleep and wake alone and he'd come back later when it was safer.

'Merry Christmas, captains both' he thought as he descended back to the boat and headed off towards his breakfast.


	3. Chapter 3

**_Interlude 3 By blood undone_**

The sun was strengthening, its light turning the faint shadows of the mainmast and it's rigging to hard black lines across the white expanses of the decks. Ariadne was about her business of managing the ship without the need to pay attention to it, her consciousness, if that were the right word, taken up entirely by her captain. More specifically how her captain came to be in the current state.

Elanor and Jack had not stirred even as Gibbs had left, remaining where they were, in a tangled heap beside the wheel. But the sun moving overhead was in some danger of adding sunburn to their woes if they did not wake soon. Ariadne admitted to herself that she was concerned, for the drink should not have affected Elanor in such a way, not even allowing for the volume and mix of it, and she had little doubts that her captain would be in need of some serious medical succour when she finally did awake. Which had better be sooner rather than later.

The alarm cut across the wind with a persistent wail, reaching into the darkness that enveloped her and past the shrouds of sleep. Elanor was suddenly aware that she was lying on the deck with a warm weight at her hip, a warm weight that was beginning to move. Then there was no awareness other than pain.

Ariadne noted the twin streams of curses and decided that Captain Sparrow was in no better shape than her captain, even if he were more practised at this event. She granted him silent marks for the unbroken stream of expletives and added several new phrases to her lexicon for later analysis.  
"..God." Elanor groaned slowly as she carefully rolled herself over and clasped her hands around her head.  
"If this is what alcohol does then I have underestimated your endurance Jack," Slowly she sat up, "it must take some to be willing to go through this more than once."

Jack, on hands and knees, eyes still closed and very pale beneath his tan, swallowed convulsively and just grunted. Then he began to crawl towards the below deck hatch muttering what sounded to Ariadne to be,  
"Shoot that bloody sun, will someone please shoot that bloody sun. And shut the wind up from shrieking so loud while you're at it!"  
He made it as far as a small patch of shade cast by a furled sail, then he carefully and slowly curled himself into a ball and groaned again as he wrapped his arms around his head.

Elanor had managed to get to her feet and was inching her way across the decks, moving as if she expected any jolt would shatter her,  
"Unlock all hatches and doors Ariadne' she croaked "and sort out the best hangover cure we have available.  
"Hangover!" Jack raised his voice and shuddered with the pain of it, but struggled to sit all the same, frowning at her bleary eyed as she passed him. "This is no hangover! We've been poisoned; I swear it. Someone had laced that bloody wine of yours with something nasty. I know there are a few who'd like to end me life but you never told me that there were those who wanted you dead too! How many people want to kill you pray and what have you done to them that they should choose so painful a manner?"  
Elanor ignored him and continued to pick her way carefully across the deck. Jack collapsed full length again with a groan and prayed for the return of sleep.

Endless hours of pain later he was aware of something cold being pushed into his limp hand and he opened a bleary eye to see Elanor, still living and less green than she had been, on the other end of whatever it was.  
"Drink this, the best the twenty second century can offer. Ariadne has concocted something that should cope with all the worst symptoms. Tastes foul, and I'm not sure if that's incidental or her way of making her displeasure felt, but it seems to do the trick. At least.." She rubbed the back of her neck, "I don't think my head is going to fall off any longer."

Jack took the cup and sipped it slowly, his pained expression showing just what he thought of it; then, drawing a deep breath, he swallowed the lot at a gulp. With a convulsive shudder that ended on a wince of pain, he set the cup down and leant his head against her thigh.  
"I'd say thank you if I knew what it were that I was thanking for." He said faintly.  
She patted the top of his head very carefully,  
"No doubt you've tasted worse."  
Jack swallowed on the recurring taste of the mixture and rolled his forehead against her leg, the closest he could mange to shaking his head,  
"Not so sure about that," he belched quietly and swallowed hard again, "certainly don't recall anything being so persistent."

Elanor smiled faintly and eased her leg away from his head, then slowly and carefully she sat down beside him. She was starting to feel much better than she had done but was far from sure that the improvement would cope with any sudden motion, they could only be glad that the seas were so calm. Squinting up at the sky, her darkened glasses deepening the blue and blunting the bright edge of the sunlight, she wondered how the light must look to Jack. Drawing a deep breath of relief as the pain in her head began to fade, she looked back to him, his head still bowed, this time against her shoulder.  
"So this is a hangover is it? How can anyone go through this and ever do it again?"  
Jack shrugged wearily,  
"This is not like any hangover I've ever known," he sighed as he rubbed his eyes. "I've drunk pretty much everything the world has to offer but I've never felt like this afterwards."  
"How do you feel?" she asked curiously,  
"Like every bit of me is being twisted and scrubbed at the same time," he complained as he moved to rubbing the back of his neck, "Headache, now that is not is not unusual, and the morning light can seem unfriendly, but this time it feels like a hundred fires are being lit in me brain at the same time. Feels like the world is moving too slow too, and I've never known that happen before."  
He squinted at her as he stretched his back,  
"What was it? That drink of yours I mean? For I swear to you it weren't the rum that did for us this way."  
"Champagne. I think the hangover from it is supposed to be kinder than most, white wine usually is, but as I don't get hangovers....." she shrugged and let the words tail away, only too aware that this time she had.

"Don't get drunk either I recall you sayin', but you seemed drunk enough last night," he hunched a shoulder, "at least as I remember it."  
"Do you remember much?" she asked with a sideways look at him.  
Jack stuck out his tongue and pulled a face as the taste of Ariadne's cure came back to him again,  
"Do you?" he stalled.  
"Yes. Shouldn't I?"  
"Not all, no."  
"So you don't?"  
He wriggled slightly, aware that the pains were easing, along with the headache, and wondered if there was any point in lying to her. Watching a boom shift slightly reminded him that they were not alone despite the empty decks, so there probably was not, not when her ghost would have seen it all and could tell.  
"Actually I recall moren' I should given the way I felt when I woke." He frowned as memories came back in an unbroken stream, "Bit worryin' that. Wouldn't like to think that were goin' to happen too often."  
Elanor smiled slightly,  
"I recall you confessing that you are not as drunk as often as you claim."  
"I recall you saying that you already knew that," he riposted, then shrugged again,  
"Not safe to be as drunk as some think me much of the time, however, a drunkard is always discounted which can make escape easier should it be necessary. But when I drink in earnest I prefer not to recall it the morning after."  
She looked down at his arm, the brand white against his sun and wind tinted skin,  
"You drink to forget." Comment not a question.  
Jack caught the direction of her look and gave a twisted smile,  
"Aye, but then doesn't everyone? I make no special claim for needin' to forget Elanor. A man, or woman's, reasons may differ but the desired effect remains the same. As you said has to be some cause to risk the morning after."

He stood up a little uncertainly and let his hand fall onto her shoulder,  
"And what of you Captain Cavendish? You who claim that alcohol doesn't touch you?"  
She rubbed her hand across her eyes,  
"I meant what I said Jack, it shouldn't have happened, and by that I mean that biologically it shouldn't have happened, not that I shouldn't have let it."  
Jack's eyebrows climbed into his scarf and his mouth turned down,  
"Ah, then it would seem you have a puzzle to be resolved." He cast her a speculative look, might as well make sure, "can your ghost help you? I assume she heard and saw everything?"  
"She did."  
"Ah." He said again, a little more uncertainly this time, "No point in pretending not to recall then?"  
Elanor got her feet and patted his arm,  
"None at all. For either of us."  
"Thought not." He said slightly ruefully, watching her closely as she started to walk back to the hatch. When she was a pace away from it he asked the question, "So can she help?"  
"I hope so. I'm going to set up some tests and see what she makes of the results." Elanor stopped and turned,  
"Saying which, I want some of your blood."  
"Why!" Jack took a hurried step backwards, looking a little alarmed, "I've done nothing! I was near a perfect gentleman as I recall, 'twas you that wanted to show me how you dance. Can't hold a man accountable for what wayward bits of him do when in such close proximity to one such as your good self!"

Elanor came as close to smiling as she had since waking,  
"Even after a visit to Tortuga?"  
Jack glowered at her, and at the memory.  
"Might have enjoyed that more if you hadn't been so forthcoming with the details of certain... things. Never had to think about it before and now I do, changes a man's perspective a mite does that. Not being sure is one thing, knowin' is another."  
She sighed and spread her hands,  
"Sorry, but as I said then, I can't waste scarce resources on things that can be avoided. It seemed only fair to tell you so. But I'm not after a lot of your blood now, just a little to check something that's occurred to me."  
"What!" he demanded round eyed.  
"I'll tell you if it proves to be the case, but I won't know until Ariadne has looked at our blood. It won't hurt I promise."  
"That is not the issue!" Jack replied with some asperity. "I'm a bloody pirate!"  
"No, I suppose it's not." She thought for a moment, "It's Christmas morning so I'll raid the stores again and give you mulled rum and a bacon sandwich in exchange for a drop of blood. How about that." She looked at him for a moment longer, seeing that he still wasn't pacified, "With tomato ketchup or brown sauce or mustard, whichever you prefer," she offered.

Jack looked at her with tilted head for a long moment, obviously wondering what tomato ketchup and brown sauce were, then apparently satisfied that pirate honour was being upheld, smiled broadly, swaggered towards her, though with less casual abandon than usual, and took her arm,  
"Both. No. Three. All. Fair exchange then Captain Cavendish, but never mind about the mulled."

***

Blood had been collected, Ariadne set to work and bacon eaten, with ketchup, brown sauce and mustard in turn and in combination, Jack's hangover was obviously fading, and a token measure of rum had been downed before the rattle of oars being shipped warned that Gibbs had arrived back. Though his exaggerated surprise at Jack's presence caused both captains to think that he had visited a least once before. Neither cared to speculate upon what he might have seen, but the glint in his eyes told them that he was hugging his secret knowledge in a manner that suggested it would be discomfiting to them. With one exchanged look behind his back they both silently agreed to ignore it.

If Gibbs were disappointed he gave no sign of it but hurried about his errand,  
"Polly wishes to invite you to attend her Christmas day meal. She has three fine geese just set a'roastin' and all manner of other provender." He shot Elanor an apologetic glance, "I used some of your gold ma'am, last time we were here, to buy an extra sack of flour and some fruit and spices. A few sweet meats too. Didn't think you would mind, for there was plenty. Polly now, she has turned it into all sorts of pastries and puddin's. There's rum too, aye and canary wine she took in payment for some livestock if you would prefer it ma'am, and a bottle of old brandy that she has had since her husband were alive. 'Tis a fine feast she is plannin' and she'd be mighty honoured if ye both would join her in it."  
Jack was smiling broadly, his whole posture exuberant and expansive, before Mr Gibbs had finished, obviously the bacon had not been enough to satisfy his post binge hunger.  
"Of course we will! Tis an age an' more since I tasted roast goose. Not since before I were dead if I reckon it right. Would be pleased to sit at her table mate." He turned towards Elanor, "At least speakin' for meself I would. Can't speak for you of course, maybe Christmas is not the same for you? Perhaps you would prefer to keep it with your ghost?"  
Elanor couldn't decide whether Jack hoped she would stay or hoped she would not, but for herself she was more than willing to spend some time with others, being alone with her thoughts didn't seem an attractive option for the moment. Keeping Jack at a distance for a few days would probably be a sensible move too, and that should be easier with Sally to draw his attention.

It was only when she was in the longboat that she remembered Polly's speculations about the pair of them, but turning back was not an option, not least because she thought that Jack might divine the cause of her change of heart.

***

The meal had been everything that Mr Gibbs had promised. The food better cooked than she would ever imagined in such a time and with so primitive equipment, the wine of good quality and the company keeping its curiosity more or less to itself. Two of Polly's neighbours had joined them for dinner, both escaped slaves she said, and both more respectful to both herself and Jack than she had expected, particularly to Jack. Obviously his legend was all he had claimed it to be, which made her wonder a little.

Once the food was cleared away and a reasonable amount of brandy and rum had been drunk Sally suggested they play a game or two, most of which seemed designed to give Jack an opportunity to slip an arm around her waist or claim a kiss as a penalty. Her mother watched her with a she-eagles eye but was reassured by the fact that while Jack was quite willing to play, stealing a quick kiss or two along the way, he was content for it to be under her mother's eye. He avoided the girls broad hints that they should find themselves a more solitary place. In fact he seemed to treat Sally as an amusing child and when she became too insistent he slid away to a seat beside Elanor to take up his rum bottle. Sally pouted and hung upon his arm, despite her brother's formidable scowl, and her mother's warning looks, until she caught Elanor's amused eye. Jack grinned as he saw the girl frown and he leaned across to apparently whisper something into his fellow captain's ear. At that Sally tossed her head and removed herself to the next chair, to sit very properly and sip her drink as if outrageous flirting with a pirate was the last thing she would think of. Jack saw a look of relief pass across Gibbs face and hid another smile taking another swig from the rum bottle before waving it in his comrade's direction.  
"Christmas is a time for stories and I know none who tells 'em better than you Mr Gibbs, so let's be havin' one."  
"Story capt'n, what sort of story would you be wantin?"  
"Anything, " then he pointed a warning finger at Gibbs and stared at him with narrow eyes, "As long as it doesn't include my good self that is." He seemed to think for a moment then waved the bottle airily around him again, "Christmas seems right for ghosts to me, so let it be a ghost story. But leave a certain Mr Jones out if you please!"

Gibbs thought for a moment then smiled,  
"Aye, well I know something that might suit. Heard it not long after I left the navy and afore I arrived at Tortuga. A story of another haunted ship, white as bone she was, and deserted but for an unquiet spirit who no man could see."  
Elanor was wondering if he was making this up as he went along, using the Chaser as a pattern, in fact she rather hoped that he was because it would be uncomfortable to think that a story of a ship so like her own was circulating before she arrived here. But when Gibbs caught her eye his look was innocent enough and she was left wondering again, both about the story and if the teller was making the connections. With a sudden shiver of some superstitious feeling she decided that she didn't want to hear any more and so she rose and left the farmhouse heading down to the cliff path and the reassuring sight of her ship.

***

The night was cooler than usual and a stiff breeze was blowing in from the sea. Elanor leant against the gatepost and thought about the past few days and the flask of water locked in the strong room, and wondered what she was going to say to Jack. To someone who had no knowledge of genetics it might be a bit difficult to explain.

"What is it?"  
Jack's voice came from behind her.  
He'd come up to her silently, and when she turned and looked at him there was faint anxiety in his face, visible even in the fitful star light.  
"Had enough of ghost stories?" She asked with a smile.  
"Ah is that it then?" there seemed to be a touch of relief in his voice, "Thought that it might cut a little close to home. I doubt that Mr Gibbs meant it to, he's a fund of stories and the various elements are ..... interchangeable as you might say, for the company and the situation. He didn't mean to suggest that it were you and your ship he was speaking of."  
Elanor turned back to look at the Chaser,  
"No, I don't think that he did."

Jack sighed,  
"Then why the prolonged absence? Is the company not to your taste? I'm surprised, I'd not thought you carried yourself so high."  
A harsher note had entered his voice and when she looked at him the same hardness was in the set of his mouth. 'Did he feel insulted?' she wondered, whatever else he was Jack was a proud man in his way and he might feel slighted or belittled if she distained company he was so happy to tolerate. She allowed herself a moment to wonder how he had felt about the slights and insults he had experienced the past few years, and what folly their shadows might yet drive him to. But she pushed the speculation away; this wasn't the time for that. It might not be the right time for the truth either, and yet he expected an answer.

She shrugged,  
"I don't. I've lived long enough to know better than that Jack. Anyway I like Polly and her family, I might not have that much in common with them but I like them all the same. It takes guts for a woman to make a living in such a place with so little help and so many hardships. I'm not Miss Swann, nor my maybe ancestor the Commodore, I'm quite well aware of how privileged the world I come from was."  
Jack caught a note of bitterness in her voice and recalled, against his will it seemed, the sight of her distress at the memories of her past so recently relived.  
"What then?" his voice had softened without his intending it,  
"I needed to think."

Jack felt a sinking in his stomach at the reluctance he heard in her tone, there was something she didn't want to tell him, which didn't bode well given recent events. With an effort he stamped down on the sudden worry and struck a pose, head tilted and nose in air, struggling for a lighter note,  
"Did you now! For the sake of your thinking, and with no thought for my safety mark you, you leave me unprotected from Miss Sally's advances and her mother's acid looks! A most un-comradely way of going on says I Captain Cavendish!"  
Elanor gave a grunt of laughter,  
"I somehow don't think that you need protecting from the Sally's of this world Jack, and I very much doubt that her mother's looks are being sent in your direction. Polly likes you, she just wishes her little miss didn't fancy you quite as much as she does."  
Jack's expression softened further and he hitched himself up onto the fence at her side.  
"I'd not queer Gibbs pitch, not when he's found so comfortable and accommodating a billet for himself." He said with a grin, "Anyways 'tis no hardship, she's a comely lass right enough, but the infantry is not really me preference, a man can get into all sorts of briars when he tangles with innocence, however enthusiastic it might be."  
"How true!" Elanor replied in mock dulcet tone.  
Jack shot her a suspicious look and pointed a finger at her,  
"But I'll not be distracted Captain Cavendish. What was it that you were thinking that brought so solemn an expression to your face?"  
"Does it matter?"  
"As I have an uncomfortable feeling that whatever it was might have meaning for meself, yes it bloody does matter. So out with it! You were talking with that ghost of yours before we left the ship, and I'd bet a bottle of rum that it's got something to do with that. So I say again, out with it, what doom does your ghost predict for us?"

***

Ariadne watched the trace with something that in someone else might be called interest. There was little doubts that it was a pursuit but of whom by whom was the question. Data was not sufficient to make a definitive assessment, but it might well be the ship in question. For the moment there was nothing that could be done and it seemed unlikely that the chase would end yet, it was almost as if the sea itself was keeping the pursued ahead of the pursuers, but she would keep a watch on it all the same. It may yet be necessary to draw attention to the events taking place nearly a hundred miles away, but for the moment her captain could be left to the festivities.

***

"So, it was the fountain of youth after all." Jack said quietly, "and the price?"  
He caught her look and smiled half heartedly, "always knew there would be one luv, there always is."  
Elanor went back to staring out to sea,  
"Slowing our body clocks can't be done without other things changing too," she said softly.  
"Like you being afflicted by the demon drink?"  
The silvered head bowed briefly in acknowledgement  
"That was a side effect yes, but Ariadne doesn't think it will be a permanent one. It was just caused by further shifts in my body's chemical systems as the changes were written into my DNA. It seems to be stabilising again."  
Jack frowned,  
"DNA?"  
"Yes, just think of it as a technical drawing. The blueprint that controls what a person's body looks like and how it performs. A set of commands if you like, one that decides and constrain how the machine works."  
"Oh. And it is this DNA, this drawing, that the water is changing?"  
"Maybe. Something is changing it, the fountain or the lake or just being in that place I don't know. It could be any of them or all of them together."

Jack thought about that for a while, and then came up with the obvious question.  
"Is it changing..me?" he asked tentatively.  
"Yes. More than it's changing me in fact; of course some of the changes were already made in my case. That may be why you were more badly affected down there."  
"So are we not.... .people any more?" He sounded very uncertain about it now it was real and irrevocable. Elanor smiled but did not look at him.  
"Well there are those who would say not, as I think I told you. But in all the real senses of the term we are still human, just not quite like we were before."  
Now she looked across at him,  
"But could a man who has been swallowed by a giant squid and spent unmeasured time dead and in the locker and then come back to this world be called that any way?"

That brought her a smile, but an uncertain one, and she sighed,  
"You've got your wish Jack, if not to live for ever then at least to forestall returning to death for some considerable period of time." Her brow wrinkled as she realised she had better qualify that given Jack's manner of living,  
" Well barring pistol ball, cutlass and the hangman's noose that is, as far as I can tell we are not immortal in any sense other than that our aging process has been virtually halted. I would imagine either steel or shot would render the matter of how long that virtually is somewhat ..immaterial."  
"Ahh."  
"Though Ariadne thinks we, or rather you, might be more resistant to disease than previously. Probably better not to bank on it until we know for certain though."  
Jack frowned in thought,  
"Don't recall having as much as a sneeze since I came back from the locker, so maybe that's not new either."

He paused for a moment then looked at her,  
"Why did they do it? Whoever built that place? Did they fear death too?"  
"Doesn't everyone, for some reason or another? But Ariadne thinks that it might be because they had a specific reason, a purpose that meant that they needed to live for a very long time."  
"Why might that be?"  
"Because they were going on a very long voyage."  
"Where could they want to go that would need that number of years?"  
She looked up at the sky,  
"A very long way indeed."  
He tracked the direction of her look upwards and his eyes widened,  
"Up there! Now that is some voyage." A smile of appreciation lit his face. "A truly magnificent horizon that would be."  
A bottle appeared from the depths of his coat and he raised it to the stars,  
"Here's to you then, one and all of you, worthy sailors you must be."  
He took a swig and handed the bottle to Elanor, watching with approval as she too raised the bottle to the sky and then drank.

"That place then, it produced the water for them?"  
"Ariadne thinks so, probably processed from the lake. The water of life. Except that doesn't mean what you think, at least if she is right."  
"Then what does it mean?"  
"The water where life began, a tributary of the primordial sea, changed over the millennia of course, but still containing something that allowed them to distil the fountain water and use it to extend their lives."  
She looked back to Jack,  
"The mountain on top of it was probably built as some sort of selection or training facility to help choose the people who would go, or prepare those already chosen. If that is the case the you were right when you asked if it was managed by a ghost like Ariadne, it would be and that ghost was charged with making sure that they were prepared."  
"Prepared! " Jack spluttered, "Seems like it nearly had us kill each other and then tried to finish the job itself."  
"Well we can't be sure it would have let us murder each other, but if we had seriously tried then we would not have been what it was looking for. Making that choice might be what it is for, that and helping those it accepted to resolve their past, given that they were going to have to live with for a very long time. Grief, loss, guilt, a life time with them is bad enough, but a thousand life times? No you would want to be sure that they could cope."  
"And we did! Ha!" Jack smiled brightly, obviously taken with the idea.  
Elanor smiled in return and shook her head,  
"No way of knowing Jack. I can't even be sure that Ariadne is correct in thinking that is what it was all about. But I hope it is and that we did pass whatever the test was because we are certainly going to face the same stresses as they did."

Her smile faded  
" We are alone now Jack, more alone than either of us have ever been before."  
She looked back towards the farmhouse,  
"We will out live our friends and enemies alike, their children and probably their children's children's children. We face a world that will change around us, and only us, of all the people of the world, will live to see the conclusion of every action, the benefit of every advance and the outcome of every mistake."  
She turned to face him again,  
"Now do you see why I needed to think."

***

As Christmas night grew old Jack and Elanor returned to the farmhouse and its fires and candles, leaving the darkness, and the dark thoughts behind them. Jack had been uncharacteristically quiet for a while as they stood and stared at the stars, then he had put his hand on her arm and pulled it through his own. Without a word he had led her back to friends and light.

One of the visitors brought out a fiddle and started to play, almost on cue other people arrived and the resulting party moved into the barn, the music and dancing drawing surprised and plaintive bleats from the animals disturbed from their innocent rest. Jack had kept Elanor well supplied with wine and, with many flourishes and sly squeezes, he had shown her how to dance a reel; and, though he romped with grace and nicely judged flirtatiousness with Sally, whenever she found herself alone he somehow materialised beside her and steered her back into company again.

As the church bell chimed midnight and the candles burned low the visitors began to drift away and Polly headed back to the house to find them blankets. Jack, emerging from finally giving Sally her wish of a proper pirates kiss behind a bale of hay, found the barn empty and with a frown set about finding where his fellow captain had disappeared to. It had been clear that her previous immunity to alcohol had returned, and he was trying not to think how much strong drink he had consumed that evening for little effect, so he had no fear that she was collapsed in a corner somewhere, but her mood of earlier had made him a little concerned about what she might be up to. More than ever now he did not want her taking her ship and running for the horizon.

Cursing he set about searching ever corner and shadow for no return and was just about to set off for the cliff top when she strode through the doorway a worried looking Gibbs hot on her heels, with Polly and Sally not far behind.  
"What? " he demanded as he saw the look on Gibbs face, "What is it?"  
Gibbs just looked helplessly at Elanor.  
"Ariadne had been .....watching events and she thinks she has seen the Black Pearl." She said quickly, then seeing Jack's dawning smile she shook her head, "If it is then she is behaving very strangely and she had the navy in hot pursui., Jack it looks like they might catch her."

Jack stared at her with growing ire for a moment then he picked up his hat from the rail beside him, rammed it onto his head and stormed towards the door,  
"Bloody navy! Heathen lot. Always said they were." He hissed as he passed her, then at the doorway he turned in a swirl of hair and sash,  
"Don't they know it's Christmas!"?

Voyage Three, Lucifers Sword, follows directly on from this


End file.
